Ending a bad year starting a hopeful new one

Come on 2009...hope springs eternal.

I went to a wonderful New Year's Eve party - very international, very much fun. Thanks, Laura and Rob! Your friends are so much fun!

I packed up Christmas 2008 New Year's Day and today. On to 2009! I am planning to work on only art I want to do in 2009. Tomorrow I will try to letter Credo in Romanian for Laura. I have four portraits to do - my three nieces and one's boyfriend. That should keep me busy for a long time. Thanks to DJ Pettit I am not too afraid to take on the challenge. The first one I started - Natalie's - looks so exactly like her it's amazing. I had the skin color wrong so it didn't get finished for Christmas, but it will. She looked so pretty on Christmas day - and so different from the photo I took of her in May that I was basing the portrait on - that I see that I may have to do more than one. These girls today are always changing their looks.

The Christmas commission I did was satisfying in the end. The 'commissioner' literally jumped up and down in joy when she saw it. That pretty much made my day. Very sweet.

I finished the Twilight series of books. Number 4 was not very satisfying. It seemed quite contrived. Nonetheless, the series was great and it's still hard for me to believe I became hooked on a vampire series. I studiously avoided Anne Rice's books many years ago. No - I don't believe in vampires. But Twilight made me want to. Crazy - I know.

Celeste saw the Natalie portrait and loved it and is excited that I plan to do hers as well. She cut my hair in a punky-messy way and it looks great. Lots of fun and very easy to keep up.

Happy New Year!